9.4 - Before the Flood

Rating

Votes

10

7%

6

9

19%

17

8

44%

39

7

20%

18

6

4%

4

5

3%

3

4

2%

2

3

0%

0

2

0%

0

1

0%

0

Average Rating

7.8

Votes

89

Synopsis

On a remote army outpost, a fearsome alien warlord called the Fisher King sets in motion a twisted plan to ensure his own survival. The ripples will be felt around the universe. Is this chain of events inevitable? And can the Doctor do the unthinkable?

Following on from the excellent first part of the story this second part continues strongly. It introduces another paradox, a Steven Moffatt obsession, but does so cleverly and interestingly. It touches on the dark moral decisions of the Doctor yet again, another Moffatt obsession, which I find annoying as it is such a hugely overused and over exaggerated theme in this era. Thankfully in this episode it is not used too badly and it does show how the Doctor stands up against evil and makes decisions to try to save as many people as possible.

The time travel element is used really well and the whole plot is very strong. All the characters so well established in Under the Lake continue to be great and to be very well acted. Peter Capaldi is superb and Jenna Coleman acts well as Clara. My only complaints are the TARDIS not translating sign language which I feel was a sad omission and that the adversary, the Fisher King, is not the most interesting, thrilling or convincing of villains. He is created by a man in a big rubber suit as with many classic era stories and it is not 100% successful. His voice performance is not that good, his motivations seem unclear and he does not convince as posing enough threat or menace, being pretty easily defeated in the end.

There are enough great elements to this though that the minor quibbles over a reasonable but unexceptional baddie do not detract too much. It is also understandable they wished to have a strong deaf character without needing subtitles so had an interpreter for the benefit of the hearing audience.

The use of the time travel paradox is well executed. However, the resolution of the mystery of the Ghost Doctor is weak and the requited love scene at the end is rather cringe inducing. A couple of the underwater base crew members get on your nerves after awhile through their laboured unheroicness or their fanboi worshipping of the Nu-Who myth of the Doctor as a famous hero. Still I'm marking it high for the paradox plot.

Doctor Who delivers a second straight strong two parter. "Before the Flood" forces the Doctor to face tough issues as he has to choose whether to change the course of history or whether he'll protect the web of time at the cost of human lives.

The directing was outstanding in this episode. One great moment for me was when the sound was removed from the scene to show what Cass (who is deaf) was experiencing as a ghost drew close to her to kill her. Very chilling and well done. The realization of the Fisher King was great, not just the appearance, but the voice was very chilling. It was a shame he's most likely a one and done villain.

Capaldi turns in yet another great performance. Most Doctors could not get away with breaking down the Fourth Wall as he does here (also did in last season's Listen) but Capaldi's monologue is simply brilliant, and I loved him playing the theme on electric guitar. He sold every scene he was in. The encounter wish the Fisher King was brilliantly played.

The romance at the end was very sudden to viewers. In defense of the writers, the person who brought it to a head had been around the couple for years, so they may have seen signs of the romance that we, the audience didn't. While that's realistic, it's not good drama.

But that's the only part I can complain about. This is a great base under siege story with a superb payoff as Series 9 continues its strong start.

Before the Flood is a second part that really doesn't explore much in the wake of new ground for Doctor Who. The premise is that due to the cliffhanger of Under the Lake the Doctor gets caught in a paradox that he has to get out of. What really works is that to get out of the paradox they cause another paradox, the Bootstrap Paradox, which could have been really confusing if it weren't for the cold open being a great sequence of the Doctor breaking the fourth wall in a Tom Bakerish way to explain it the episode would have failed. There really wasn't much to complain about except some bits get slow in places. There is also a bit of forced romance between Cass and Lunn near the end that while not as forced as say Leela and Andred, still could've been built up a lot better than it was.